Assessment of Safety Practices in Garri Production among Cassava Processors in Ido Local Government Area Oyo State Nigeria

The study assessed safety practices carried out in garri production among the cassava processors in Ido Local Government area, Oyo State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 104 cassava processors from three (3) wards in the study area. Parameters examined are socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, respondents’ knowledge of food safety practices, and the constraints encountered in the food safety practices in garri production among the respondents in the study area. A well structured-questionnaire with interview schedule was used for data collection in the study area. Both descriptive and inferential statistics like frequency distribution, percentages, Chi-square and Pearson product moment correlation were used in analyzing the data. Results show that majority of the respondents were female (70.2%), had age range of 31-40 (47.1%), married (72.1%), primary education (35.6%), and processing experience of 6-10 years (65.4%). Most of the respondents (53.7%) have sufficient knowledge of the food safety practices. Also, most of the respondents (63.4%) encountered little or no constraints in cassava processing into garri in the study area. The results further exemplified that there is significant relationship between constraints encountered in processing and respondents’ knowledge of food safety practices among the cassava processors in the study area (r = -0.194, p < 0.05). This implies that there is little or no constraint for food safety practices but cassava processors’ knowledge and their years of experience have positive influence on the production of garri in the study area. It is however recommended that government should deploy community health workers to monitor the processing activities of the cassava processors and to enforce adequate hygiene in safety practices in all the cassava processing units in the study area. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC should also be mobilized to ensure that garri is free of cyanide acid content and fortified with vitamins before its distribution to the markets.